IHRE is an international, interdisciplinary semester program dedicated to the critical study of all aspects of theories and practices of human rights in the liberal arts tradition. It is based at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, during the South African second semester (July – November).

IHRE's international student body consists of approximately equal numbers of North American and South African students—though typically many other nationalities are also included.  IHRE’s faculty is also international.  Students in the IHRE program take a full semester load of four courses, participating in classroom discussions, attending lectures, and performing fieldwork. Students from North American institutions may accumulate 16 credits, to be issued by Bard College. Students from Southern African institutions will earn up to 92 points for credit at Wits, or their home institution. 

The program consists of three main academic elements. The core course introduces students to significant materials on human rights (drawing on the South African experience among others), it offers different perspectives on the idea of human rights, from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. The core seminar Engagement in Human Rights examines the varied practices of human rights advocacy and engagement, and mentors students through a 10-hour per week internship experience. The IHRE electives provide the opportunity for in-depth study of select topics or themes within the context of human rights.

Mission Statement

The International Human Rights Exchange (IHRE) is a collaborative project, founded on a commitment to genuine international exchanges, inter-institutional cooperation, and interdisciplinary teaching and learning. It is designed to support an annual intensive undergraduate program in human rights aimed at second-, third-, and fourth-year students.

The program seeks to promote a critical understanding of human rights as part of a broad intellectual and social movement, not simply as a code or set of laws, but as a discourse in transformation and often in contest, extending to the humanities, social sciences, arts, and sciences.